The world famous British Scientist was a long-standing supporter for Palestine, young physicists and Birzeit University. Hawking visited the University in 2006 and lectured hundreds of faculty members and guests, and thousands of students, and joined the academic boycott of Israel.

When visiting the Palestinian University, Hawking advocated for the right to academic freedom in a press release published by Modoweiss. He praised Palestinian scientists, saying, “I support the rights of scientists everywhere to freedom of movement, publication and collaboration.”

Israeli occupying forces used unmanned drones to drop tear gas on Palestinians in Gaza for the first time last Friday, according to the Times of Israel.

Some 200 Gazans had gathered at the border fence with Israel as part of a weekly protest against the ten-year blockade when an unmanned aerial vehicle approached the scene. Footage from the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen news agency shows the drone dropping canisters of tear gas on the protesters who can then be seen running blindly from the scene.

Israel experiments on caged Gaza natives protesting their perpetual imprisonment by drone bombing them with teargas. For the clearest vision of our dystopian future, always look to present day Israel. https://t.co/1Zm0t1PoYM

Gaza has seen several clashes since the announcement of US President Donald Trump recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, with protests planned every week. Last month, two Palestinian teens were killed after being shot with live ammunition as they approached the perimeter fence, reportedly in search of work in Israel.

Gaza has been facing a mounting humanitarian emergency for many months, confronted with an energy, water and healthcare crisis. Residents have also been prevented from leaving the Strip, forcing a young Gazan girl to travel without either of her parents to the central occupied West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday in order to have a kidney transplant last month.

“Today, we launch a resounding scream to the world: save Gaza from these disastrous conditions,” Al-Kurd said, asking: “How long will you wait and how many more victims do you want in order to take action?”

Palestinian children in Gaza take part an UNRWA campaign. (Photo via UNRWA)

Arab Parliament Speaker, Mashaal bin Fahm Al-Salami, called on parliaments around the world to urge their governments to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) so that it continues its work in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 302.

Al-Salami said in a statement that he had sent letters to a number of world parliaments that have always supported UNRWA such as: the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Australia, Switzerland, Canada, Denmark and Norway.

Al-Salami praised in his letters the countries support to UNRWA, stressing that the Arab Parliament rejects attempts to politicize the humanitarian role played by UNRWA after the US froze part of its contribution to the agency’s budget.

Al-Salami stressed that UNRWA work should only end after the implementation of UN General Assembly Resolution 194, which called for the return of the Palestinian refugees and compensation for those who have been displaced from their homes.

Al-Salami also thanked the Arab countries, which are among the top 20 countries that support UNRWA.

A Palestinian activist climbs the Israeli Apartheid Wall in the West Bank. (Photo: ActiveStills.org)

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates expressed in a statement deep concern over remarks made by Israeli President, Reuven Rivlin, at the “Israeli Institute for Democracy”, which called for “Imposing Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria,” the Israeli name for the occupied West Bank.

“The Ministry believes that these extreme right-wing positions calling for the expansion of settlements are part of the right-wing attempts to legitimize the annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and turn it into an issue of Israeli public opinion to impose its control and extremist ideology on the government, in addition to (legitimizing) measures of Judaization continuously carried out by the occupation on the ground to annex area C.”

"The world has to know that Israel is going to impose its full sovereignty over the West Bank," said Israeli occupation's Minister of "Justice" Ayelet Shaked today. pic.twitter.com/vlZo6AppfV

The Ministry strongly condemned these statements, which it stressed, breach international law.

“The Israeli government bears full and direct responsibility for its consequences.”

The Ministry affirmed that Israel cannot market itself as a democratic state while it’s occupying Palestine.

It called upon the international community, particularly the Security Council, to deal with the statements of Israeli officials calling for the annexation of the Palestinian territories and take the necessary measures under international law to stop this ongoing rebellion against international peace and legitimacy.

President of the Occupation State calls to impose Israeli sovereignty over the entire occupied West Bank | We… https://t.co/hHneos8uav

“In order for the Security Council to hold the legal and ethical responsibilities towards the Palestinian people, above all, the UN should recognize the state of Palestine as a full member state, and it should provide international protection for the Palestinians, and implement UN resolution 2334.”

An explosion has struck the convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah upon his entrance into the Gaza Strip, lightly injuring several people.

The explosive device detonated shortly after Hamdallah and his convoy passed through the Israeli-controlled Erez checkpoint, known by Palestinians as Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza on Tuesday.

Hamdallah was unharmed and appeared on live television shortly after the incident at the inauguration of a wastewater treatment facility. However, five others were lightly injured in the blast. The Palestinian Authority intelligence chief Majed Faraj was part of the convoy.

Fatah, the West Bank-based political party to which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas belongs, called it a “terrorist attack” and blamed it on Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza.

Hamas condemns the crime of targeting the Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamadallah, considering it part of the attempt aiming to destabilise security in Gaza and to foil efforts to achieve national unity. pic.twitter.com/ZoyNYn2oPm

However, on Twitter, Hamas condemned “the crime of targeting the Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamadallah, considering it part of the attempt to destabilize security in Gaza and to foil efforts to achieve national unity”.

The Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, approved on Wednesday a law that allows the Israeli police to hold the bodies of Palestinians killed by the police or other security forces until families agree to preconditions on funeral arrangements.

According to the Haifa-based human rights center Adalah, this is a violation of both Israeli and international law.

Forty-eight Knesset members voted in favor of the law, which applies to Palestinian citizens of Israel and Israeli police only. It does not apply to West Bank Palestinians or to the Israeli military.

The new law was legislated following a precedent-setting Israeli Supreme Court ruling on a petition filed by Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel which determined that Israeli police did not have the legal authority to hold bodies – particularly given that doing so constitutes a violation of basic rights.

“The holding of bodies and preventing their immediate burial is a violation of both Israeli and international law,” said Adalah in a statement. “The United Nations Committee Against Torture raised concern about the failure to return bodies and cautioned Israel to avoid such situations in the future. There is no parallel in constitutional or in human rights law to the legislation of this sort. This law politicizes a humanitarian issue.”

The clashes broke out following a student march protesting the arrest of Omar al-Kiswani, the president of the student union at Birzeit University who was arrested by Israeli undercover soldiers in the university campus on Wednesday.

For fans of Israeli hit series Fauda, where undercover cops pretend to be Palestinians, this arrest of a student at Birzeit University seems familiar pic.twitter.com/vG2pbDvs1b

Israeli settlers attack a school in Nablus, forcing the school to evacuate all student during exams.
(Photo: Social Media)

The Palestinian Ministry of Education has lashed out against the Israeli authorities for detaining 340 Palestinian students.

The ministry is demanding that Tel Aviv release the students. Palestine’s Minister of Education, Sabri Saidam, confirmed that the students are being held and accused the Israeli authorities of systematic violations.

“Some 340 university students are held in Israeli prisons,” Saidam said in a press conference, on Sunday.

Last week, Israeli forces detained Omar al-Keswani, head of the student council at Birzeit University. “A massacre was about to take place on campus as Israeli forces opened fire during the raid” to arrest al-Keswani, Saidam adding that the raid was “organized state terrorism and unprecedented arrogance.”

He explained that when the Israeli officials stormed the Birzeit University campus to detain al-Kiswani, they fired indiscriminately on the student body population.

Saidam also urges the International Federation of Universities and Unesco to intervene and stop Israeli violations.

“There are around 311 school students in Israeli custody,” he said. “The Israeli occupation is targeting the Palestinian education system.”

When Israeli security forces, disguised as Palestinian journalists, stormed Birzeit university and arrested a student leader, the Israeli media, rather than outrage, offered its highest plaudit: "Just like 'Fauda'" – Opinionhttps://t.co/NjPj0RBYk6

Each year, Israeli Apartheid Week takes place across the world. It aims to raise awareness about Israel’s ongoing settler-colonial project, Israel’s apartheid policies, and to build support for the growing campaign of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

In Ireland, an Israeli military checkpoint was recreated on Henry Street, one of the busiest shopping areas in Dublin. The aim is to show a glimpse of what it is like to live under military occupation.

Twenty-five-year-old Swedish activist Benjamin Ladraa is on a treacherous walk from Sweden to Palestine to raise awareness about human rights violations in the occupied territories. . pic.twitter.com/wRO82s1xis

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